Festive goodies to prepare for Christmas

It’s time to get in the Christmas spirit by making festive goodies with the family, to enjoy alongside decorating the house or watching Christmas movies.

We have found some recipes that you are able to make with ease, and with ingredients that you mostly have got in the house to avoid unnecessary shopping trips in this busy period.

Recipe 1: chocolate orange pudding, in a mug.

Ingredients:

¼ cup of flour

¼ cup of sugar

2 tbsp of hot chocolate powder/ cocoa powder

0.2 teaspoon (a small pinch) of baking soda

A dash of milk

Gratings of an orange (to your acquired taste)

Scoop of ice cream/ cream or custard to serve with

Method:

A very easy and quick method to this, so when you are craving a snack mid-film or football match, the ad breaks are a perfect time to put this all together.

Simply put all ingredients into a microwavable mug or bowl. Add all dry ingredients first, then stir in the milk.

Place into the microwave for around 2 minutes on high power, Hisense offers a smart cook function which provides 100% power via the 1–6-minute functions.

Do keep an eye on the cake to ensure it is cooked to your personal preference.

Add your ice cream/ custard/ cream to serve and enjoy!

Recipe 2: Christmas biscuits

This can be used on Christmas eve, pre-Santa’s arrival.

Ingredients:

100g soft butter (not melted)

50g of sugar

A teaspoon of cinnamon

A teaspoon of ginger

150g of plain flour

1 tbsp of cornflour

To decorate: anything you have around, sprinkles, icing sugar, crushed sweets, melted chocolate, etc.

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C, with Hisense ovens this should take only 6 minutes with preheat assist.

Whilst the oven is preheating, prep your biscuits by whisking together the butter, sugar, cinnamon and ginger until all is fluffy.

Dust the surface with flour and then roll the dough to a thickness of about 5mm.

Cut the biscuits to your desire, if you don’t have any festive biscuit cutters, get creative and use a knife (safely) to carve out some special designs!

Once all the dough has been used, pop into the oven for around 15 minutes, the chef pro function can provide help with this by calculating an appropriate cooking time and best function for baking.

Even bake will ensure the biscuits cook perfectly, so there’s no need to keep an eye on these, instead focus on sorting out your toppings!

The best topping to utilise for this is melted chocolate, simply put a bowl of chocolate in the microwave or on the hob, checking and stirring regularly until melted.

When the biscuits are done let them cool. Then put the melted chocolate on top in any way you would like. Again, let this cool and there you have your festive biscuits.

Recipe 3: vegan mince pies*

This one is a long process, so make sure to start early December so you have plenty of mince pies ready for Christmas!

Ingredients:

25g Olive oil

150g mincemeat (ingredients for this below)

125g of tinned pear

2tsp cornflour

5 sheets of filo pastry

Ingredients for the mincemeat:

250g sultanas

125 currants

125g dried cranberry’s

1 lemon zested and juiced

2 tsp of mixed spice

1 small apple

75ml of orange juice

Method:

Firstly, make your mincemeat, as this will take around 2 weeks!

Mix all dried fruit, plus the lemon zest and juice with sugar, mixed spice and the apple, grated.

Stir on the hob at a low heat for around 10 minutes, you will see when all has mixed together.

Remove the pan from heat and add orange juice, then place into a jar where it will mature for around 2 weeks.

Once 2 weeks has passed you can bring everything else together, preheat oven to 200C into a cup baking tin, with a tiny bit of oil.

Mix the mincemeat in with the tinned pear and cornflour into a bowl, until you can no longer see it.

Prepare your filo pasty by brushing with oil and adding 2 more layers. Then cut into pieces that are an appropriate size for your tin.

Then, place the filo onto the bottom of the tin and add in the mincemeat, and add another layer on top to create the pie.

Place into the oven for 15 minutes again but do keep an eye on these. You want them to be crispy on the top. After this remove and let them cool.

You can freeze mince pies for up to three months, and keep ‘mincemeat’ for up to six, so do ensure you are reducing food waste as much as possible by doing so.

There’s no harm in making another batch in February and enjoying a festive treat post-Christmas!